71+ Empath Quotes To Empower Your Sensitive Side

Do you often feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Do you ever feel like you’re too sensitive for this world? That you feel everything more intensely than everyone else around you?

If so, then you might be an empath.

Empaths are people who sense and feel the emotions of others deeply. They are often called “the emotional sponge” because they soak up the feelings of those around them.

This can be both a blessing and a curse.

On the one hand, empaths are able to sense and understand the feelings of others better than most people. On the other hand, they can sometimes struggle to protect themselves from negativity.

If you’re a highly sensitive person, it’s essential to learn to empower yourself and manage your sensitive side. This article will help you do this. Today’s post covers 71+ empath quotes that will help encourage and empower you!

Empath quotes

Empath Quotes To Empower Your Sensitive Side

#1. “There is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.”

– Milan Kundera

#2. “Highly sensitive people are too often perceived as weaklings or damaged goods. To feel intensely is not a symptom of weakness. It is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate. It is not the empath who is broken. It is society that has become dysfunctional and emotionally disabled. There is no shame in expressing your authentic feelings. Those who are at times described as being a ‘hot mess’ or having ‘too many issues’ are the very fabric of what keeps the dream alive for a more caring, humane world. Never be ashamed to let your tears shine a light in this world.

– Anthon St. Maarten

Related: How To Spot An Empath

#3. “The world needs them. The ones who absorb the emotions of others, which diminishes their pain and anxiety, and the world also uses them as a repository for confessions, secrets, grudges, and indignation. They will leave these uncommon and intuitive individuals feeling unburdened themselves, while the unusual individual will be weighed down by having taken on those burdens in addition to their own. The world needs them, but what they need is something as aberrant as themselves, and that is silence, stillness, and rest.”

– Donna Lynn Hope

#4. “Empaths did not come into this world to be victims. We came to be warriors. Be brave. Stay strong. We need all hands on deck.” 

– Anthon St. Maarten

Empathy Quotes
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#5. ““Intuitive empaths have a more profound grasp of other people’s emotions. Due to this rare trait, they feel the thrill of their surroundings more intensely than others do. In turn, it is almost impossible for them to ignore these senses. Luckily, unlike other empaths, intuitive empaths can control what and how this energy affects them. They can direct this distinct talent towards helping others.”

– Katya Ki

#6. “I understand now that I’m not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now when someone asks me why I cry so often. ‘For the same reason, I laugh so often,’ because I’m paying attention.”

– Glennon Doyle Melton

#7. “Empaths are born that way, but being empathic is something all, or most of us can learn. They put others in front of themselves as long as it’s doable. Harmony in any given circumstance is something they strive to create. They are beings affected by others’ emotions and energies, so balance is super-important to them. They want to make the desires and wishes come true for those around them as often as possible. They want to motivate and inspire others to grow as well.”

– Kristine Einang

Related: 13 Reasons The Gift Of Empathy Is A Blessing And Not A Curse

#8. “Empathy is simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘you’re not alone.'”

– Brené Brown

#9. “The sad thing that many of us empaths don’t realize is that often our desire to heal others is a disguised cry for help for our own healing. Because many of us weren’t taught how to value or nurture ourselves at a young age, we tend to unconsciously seek out our own healing in the healing of others.”

 – Mateo Sol

#10. “Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.”

– Andrew Boyd

#11. “As an empath, it’s vital that you learn how to hold space for your emotions, even the most painful ones. By anchoring yourself in your breath, you can learn how to witness the emotional energy of others within you, without attaching yourself to these sensations.”

– Luna & Sol

#12. “Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.”

– Barack Obama

Barrack Obama Empath Quotes
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#13. “True empathy requires listening with the whole being: The hearing that is only in the ears is one thing. The hearing of the understanding is another. But the hearing of the spirit is not limited to any one faculty, to the ear, or to the mind. Hence, it demands the emptiness of all the faculties. And when the faculties are empty, then the whole being listens. There is then a direct grasp of what is right there before you that can never be heard with the ear or understood with the mind.”

– Chuang-Tzu

#14. “Empathy means understanding others on their own terms and bringing them into the orbit of one’s own experience.”

– Jacob A. Belzen

#15. “Dear empath, you are a being of immense depth, wisdom, and compassion. You are a pioneer and trailblazer of humanity, a model for others on how to be sensitive and powerful. All the strength and love you need is already within you, waiting to be discovered.”

– Mateo Sol

#16. “Being an empath is a huge asset when you learn to manage it.”

– Judith Orloff

Related: 25 Empaths Protection Tools – How To Deal With Being An Empath

#17. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

– Leo Buscaglia

#18. We all are born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We’re kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize with other people. And for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears. It helps us identify with the people who share this journey with us.

– Roger Eber

#19. “There is absolutely no single aspect of one’s personality that is more important to develop than empathy, which is not a skill at which men typically are asked to excel. I believe empathy is not only the core of art, literature, and music but should also be at the core of society, from ethics to economics.”

– Chris Ware

Related: Clear Signs You Are A Heyoka Empath – Powerful & Rare

Empath Quote
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Related: 12 Types Of Empaths And How To Identify Yours

#20. “I empathize with everyone I meet and find something in their life that I can relate to. No one is different from anyone else when you get down to it. We are all more alike than we are different.”

– Unknown

#21. “Empaths are absorbers, not observers. When you just observe, you are no longer an empath but just a sympath.”

– Monika Chhetri

#22. “Empaths have to be careful not to internalize others’ feelings, as this can cause them to feel anxious, sad, or even depressed. It can leave the empath feeling drained or exhausted. They must learn to set boundaries so as not to let toxic people drain them dry.”

– Donna G. Bourgeois

#23. “Create boundaries. Honor your limits. Say no. Take a break. Let go. Stay grounded. Nurture your body. Love your vulnerability. And if all else fails, breathe deeply.”

– Aletheia Luna

#24. “In today’s world of sound bites and social media, empathy is becoming increasingly and distressingly rare. We may want to come together, but the world still seems to be pushing us farther apart than we’ve ever been.”

– Unknown

25. “An empath is someone who can feel the emotions of others without experiencing them firsthand.”

– Jennie Mugford

#26. “Empathy is a creative act. It is the act of imagining ourselves not only in another’s shoes but perhaps inhabiting their very heart and soul.”

– Michele Jennae

#27. Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Not only is empathy hard to outsource and automate, but it makes the world a better place.

– Daniel H. Pink

#28. “I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”

– Maya Angelou

Highly Sensitive People Quotes
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Related: Reasons Why Intuitive Empaths Have A Gift

#29. Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?

– Henry David Thoreau

#30. “I often ask myself, how on Earth is it that we empaths can survive under the domination of a narcissist? How do we not become bitter and cruel as adults with the role models we survived under? How is it that being an empath stays with us and cannot be beaten down? We always get up again and keep on going, being an empath still.”

– Donna G. Bourgeois

#31. “The struggle of my life created empathy. I could relate to pain, being abandoned, having people not love me.”

– Oprah Winfrey

#32. “One of the greatest advantages of being an empath is that experiencing a spiritual awakening is virtually inevitable. In other words, spiritually awakening seems to be written into our DNA.”

– Aletheia Luna

Here’s a helpful guide: 8 Levels Of Listening – Complete Guide 

#33. “Empaths may hesitate to save themselves first because they think that doing so is selfish, which is not the case. If you’re an empath, know how important it is to take care of yourself first to be able to help others. Sometimes there is only so much you can do for others; you might even be doing everyone a disservice by stepping over boundaries.”

– Catherine Chea

#34. “If it is not tempered by compassion and empathy, reason can lead men and women into a moral void.”

– Karen Armstrong

#35. “I’m a passionate person. A lot is going on underneath my carousel of blazers. A cauldron of sensitivity and emotion.”

– Sue Perkins

#36. “Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself.”

– Mohsin Hamid

Sensitive People Quotes
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#37. “Highly sensitive people (empaths) suffer more, but they also love harder, dream wider, and experience deeper horizons and bliss. When you’re sensitive, you’re alive in every sense of the word in this wildly beautiful world. Sensitivity is your strength. Keep soaking in the light and spreading it to others.”

– Victoria Erickson

#38. “There are empaths who can absorb the pain and discomfort of others into their bodies. They feel it as if it were happening to them, even though they may not have experienced anything similar in real life.”

– Unknown

#39. “Empathy has no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of ‘You’re not alone.’”

Related: 21 Real Problems Empaths Have In Romantic Relationships

– Brené Brown

#40. “The empath’s curse is that we feel everything, and sometimes it’s just too much. We can get lost in the sorrow of the world, feeling crushed beneath the weight of other people’s pain. The empath’s gift is that by opening our hearts to the pain in this world, we can also open them to its joy. We empathize with others because we know what it feels like on a very intimate level. And when there is beauty or happiness around us, we feel it in our bones.”

– Unknown

#41. “Most empaths have a few things in common: We tend to be highly intuitive and creative, we feel deeply, we care about others more than ourselves, and we often possess strong healing abilities.”

– Unknown

#42. “Empathy is connection; it’s a ladder out of the shame hole. “

– Brené Brown

#43. “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels. I myself become the wounded person.”

– Walt Whitman

#44. “This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

– Dalai Lama

#45. “The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

– Bill Bullard

#46. “Empathy creates connection. Connection shapes culture. Culture drives behavior and determines the quality of our lives.”

– Unknown

Empath quotes on connection
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Related: Super Empath Vs Narcissist & What We Can Learn From Both

#47. “For there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes.”

– Milan Kundera

#48. “Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.”

Alfred Adler

#49. “Some say I’m too sensitive, but the truth is I just feel too much. Every word, every action, and every energy goes straight to my heart.”

– Unknown

#50. “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean. If a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

Empath quote by Mahatma Gandhi
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#51. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

– Leo Buscaglia

#52. “Empaths travel the path of the heart. They are driven by the desire for transcendental love, connection, passion, and service to others.”

– Sherrie Dillard

#53. “The empath, the sensitive person, will always be called to action by his or her sensitivity.”

– Unknown

#54. “Empathy is one of our greatest business tools that is most underused.”

– Daniel Lubetzky

#55. “Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use.”

– Emily Post

#56. “An empath hones in on the emotions of a person. Having psychic abilities focuses on the communication of the soul. Not to be mistaken for a gut feeling-Instinct. Gut Instinct is the internal mechanism for survival.”

– Serena Jade

#57. “When you show deep empathy toward others, their defensive energy goes down, and positive energy replaces it. That’s when you can get more creative in solving problems.”

– Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey Empathy Quotes
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#58. “No one reaches out to you for compassion or empathy so you can teach them how to behave better. They reach out to us because they believe in our capacity to know our darkness well enough to sit in the dark with them.”

– Brené Brown

#59. “When you’re deeply sensitive, love is ecstasy. Music is godlike. Heartache is a wide somatic wound. Visual natural beauty is jewel-drenched, wild bliss. Tension and conflict are muscle tightening and toxic, straight down to the cells.”

– Victoria Erickson

#60. “Empathy is really the opposite of spiritual meanness. It’s the capacity to understand that every war is both won and lost. And that someone else’s pain is as meaningful as your own.”

– Barbara Kingsolver

#61. “The empath is the guardian of emotion. They are the diplomats of feelings and the protectors of heart energy.”

– Unknown

#62. “Empathy is an important and valuable skill to have in many aspects of life. Not only does it contribute to strong bonds and general trust, but it allows us to gain insight into the emotions and thoughts of other people. In a sense, it offers you a chance to experience life the way someone else does.”

– Tuan Luu

#63. “Why is sensitivity perceived as being dangerous? When we’re sensitive, we feel things we were taught not to feel. When we’re sensitive, we are completely open to attack. When we’re sensitive, we are awake and in touch with our hearts – and this can be very threatening to the status quo indeed.”

– Aletheia Luna

#64. “If we could look into each other’s heart and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.”

– Marvin J. Ashton

#65. “What empaths feel is not exactly emotions. It’s more like the entire emotional spectrum all at once, and sometimes even stronger. It can be so intense that empaths will want to hide or take a break from it all.”

– Unknown

#66. “We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.”

– Alan Watts

Allan Watts Empath Quotes
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#67. “We empaths have many marvelous traits. We have huge hearts and the instinct to help others in need or who are less fortunate.”

– Judith Orloff

#68. “Many people confuse empaths for weak people who are nothing but scared. The opposite is true. When surrounded by positive energy, they flourish into lovely creatures that are so much fun to hang around.”

– Katya Ki

#69. “Be kinder to yourself, and then let your kindness flood the world.”

– Pema Chodron

#70. “There is no reconciliation until you recognize the dignity of the other until you see their view. You have to enter into the pain of the people. You’ve got to feel their need.”

– John M. Perkins

#71. “A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings as something separated from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a person nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”

– Albert Einstein

#72. ” Empathy is the most mysterious transaction that the human soul can have, and it’s accessible to all of us. But we have to give ourselves the opportunity to identify, to plunge ourselves in a story where we see the world from the bottom up or through another’s eyes or heart.”

– Sue Monk Kidd

#73. Suffering and joy teach us, if we allow them, how to make the leap of empathy, which transports us into the soul and heart of another person.

– William Fritz

Empath Quotes on Suffering and joy
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Empath Quotes to Empower Your Sensitive Side FAQ

What Do Empaths Suffer From?

Empaths mainly suffer from energy overwhelm.

Empaths can empathize with other people at the expense of their own well-being. Empaths are highly sensitive to energy, and that’s why empaths suffer from ‘energy overwhelm.’

This is when empaths feel drained or weighed down by the emotions and energies around them. They absorb these energies as if they were their own.

Empaths can empathize with other people so much that empaths often feel overwhelmed by the emotions of others and experience them as if they were their own.

Related: Empathetic Mindset – Important Traits

What are the 6 Types of Empaths?

Many empaths don’t know what empath they are. Here is a guide to help empaths determine their empath type:

  • Emotional empaths feel the emotions of other people and animals as if they were their own.
  • Physical empaths can sense physical pain, illness, or injury in others by feeling the empath’s own body.
  • Intuitive empaths empathize with other people’s inner states, moods, and thoughts.
  • Animal empaths empathize and pick up the energy of animals. They feel a telepathic connection to animal needs and tend to love to work with animals
  • Plant empaths empathize with the energy of plants and sense their vitality, moods, or illnesses.
  • Geomantic empaths empathize with the Earth’s energies, landscapes, and weather patterns. They can also pick up on geopathic stress, which is a subtle form of radiation.

What is Special about Empaths?

Empaths are unique because they can feel other people’s emotions as if they were their own.

A highly sensitive person can also sense the physical and emotional pain of others. This makes empaths very sensitive to energy and often leads empaths to suffer from ‘energy overwhelm.’

Any Further Questions?

Being empathetic isn’t easy.

However, it doesn’t hurt to be more understanding and caring to our fellow humans.

We hope these 71+ empath quotes will help to empower your sensitive side.

Which of these quotes appealed to you the most? Do you know any other empath quotes to help empower our reader’s sensitive sides?

Please tell us in the comments below.

And if you have any questions about being more in touch with your empathetic side, please ask in the comment section below. I’ll be happy to answer any question asked.

Related Articles: More Quote Articles

About The Author

Bijan Kholghi is a certified life coach with the Milton Erickson Institute Heidelberg (Germany). He helps clients and couples reach breakthroughs in their lives by changing subconscious patterns. His solution-oriented approach is based on Systemic- and Hypnotherapy.

Bijan